In India, an estimated 432 million pads produced annually, find their way into landfills. These soiled pads have the potential to cover landfills spread over 24 hectares of land. The effects are long-lasting. Harsh odours, harmful chemicals and non-biodegradable plastics are released into the environment.
Moreover, landfills require vast tracts of land which cannot be promised. In a country like India, where viable land isn’t enough for people, waste and humans will have to find a way to co-exist in the future. Probably most of this slow-rotting rubbish will find its way into water bodies causing catastrophic health effects.
The environmental impact of sanitary waste is tremendous. It takes 500-800 years for a single sanitary pad to decompose. Menstrual waste piles up each month, attracting disease-causing insects. Moreover, the waste causes land degradation and pollutes water bodies through seepage of leachate into them.
The Unhygienic Disposal
Disposal of used menstrual hygiene products poses a waste management problem in Kenya too. According to the situational analysis, 65% of the Kenyan rural population dispose of their menstrual products in a pit latrine, in comparison to 50% in urban areas. Moreover, in public schools in rural areas, only 1% of the girls can dispose of their soiled sanitary pads in an environment-friendly manner. Menstrual waste disposal options are limited to pit latrines and trash bins because incinerators are uncommon in Kenya.
Most menstruators lack the knowledge of properly disposing of sanitary pads and therefore, throw them in garbage bins. These sanitary pads get mixed with general refuse, thereby finding its way into municipal waste collection points. Being that it cannot be recycled, such garbage poses grave health risks for waste collectors.
The chemical components of the disposable sanitary pads such as furan, dioxin, pesticides, and other endocrine disruptors further get into the environment posing aggravated health risks.
The unending taboos and stigma associated with menstruation have created generations of menstruators with their heads bowed down in shame. These have affected the way menstruators manage their period. It has also contributed to restricted investments in women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and promoting safe menstrual products disposal.
The Need Of Integrated Waste Management
Limited efforts have gone in educating the public to bust the stigma around menstruation. It manifests in various ways, including improper waste management. Sanitary pads are thrown into water bodies by menstruators at late hours to avoid detection. In a village in India, a young girl recalls, “we place the soiled napkin in between the fingers of our legs, and while we dip inside the water to take bath, we release it then and it sinks down to the ground“. Another person added that the bottom of the lake was a bed of soiled sanitary pads.
Menstrual hygiene management is not just a “woman’s issue” because unsafe disposal of sanitary products affects everyone and therefore demands a collective responsibility. There should be increased public health awareness to advocate for the idea of sustainable menstruation.
There are sustainable ways to use and dispose of sanitary products without harming the environment. The government should further support innovations and solutions to provide biodegradable menstrual products and its management. People need to be educated on integrated solid waste management methods, including management safe management of menstrual waste.
The government should make waste collection points for used sanitary products and invent various ways in which they can be disposed of safely. At the household level, there should be pits set-up to contain only menstruation management products. Safe and sustainable management of menstruation should be the only way forward.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program